Firefighters work in the driveway of a house damaged in a deadly plane crash Sunday in Yorba Linda, Calif. Officials say at least five people died, including the pilot and four people who were in the house.Alex Gallardo/AP

At least five people were killed Sunday when a plane apparently broke apart in the air and plummeted into a neighborhood in Yorba Linda, Calif. The pilot died, along with four people in a house hit by wreckage. Officials aren’t sure what caused the crash.

Two of the victims owned the two-story stucco house that was hit and was engulfed in a raging fire, said Lt. Cory Martino of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Several witnesses described a dramatic scene in which the aircraft, a 1981 twin-engine Cessna 414, burst into flames and began breaking apart even before it hit the house. Security surveillance footage seemed to confirm that version of events, showing the out-of-control plane trailing black smoke as it fell to the ground.

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Joel Cholo Brooks is a Liberian journalist who previously worked for several international news outlets including the BBC African Service. He is the CEO of the Global News Network which publishes two local weeklies, The Star and The GNN-Liberia Newspapers. He is a member of the Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) since 1986, and several other international organizations of journalists, and is currently contributing to the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation as Liberia Correspondent.